1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for dynamically routing network traffic. More specifically, the present invention is related to a method for managing telecommunications traffic.
2. Description of the Related Art
The industry related to transmitting and routing digital traffic is significantly fragmented. For example, in the telecommunications industry, deregulation and the development of new technologies (i.e., VoIP, WiMAX, UMTS, Video over IP) has led to an explosive growth in the number of service providers. Each offers a variety of services with different levels of quality and price ranges.
The providers typically have predefined agreements between them that are not completely evident to vendors which use the providers' services. A vendor will use heuristics in an attempt to determine whether a certain supplier's capabilities meet the vendor's requirements for completing a transaction. However, these heuristics are typically non-deterministic because the vendor does not have all the available information about the supplier's actual current capabilities. For example, a seller with a good quality history may now fail calls. Conversely, a seller that has had a quality problem in the past may now be performing well.
To illustrate the problem, FIG. 4 shows an example in which a vendor A has established relationships with suppliers B, C, and D. That is, the vendor A has negotiated agreements with suppliers B, C, and D that specify a commitment for quality, price, and/or capacity. However, vendor A does not have access to the internal network of C, i.e., the predefined agreements that C has with other suppliers. Thus, the decision by vendor A to include, e.g., supplier C in a certain order into a route plan is based on historical and outdated assumptions about the quality of service and price of supplier C.
By the time vendor A attempts to route a call through one of its providers, it is likely that the current downstream conditions may have changed from the conditions on which the vendor's decision is based. In the worst case, the conditions have changed such that the call is prevented from being routed. If the call does not go through, revenue is lost because the transaction is not completed.
Moreover, existing tools allow buyers to micromanage routes thus leading to market fragmentation and overflow. If a buyer pays to reserve a route for his use, others are prevented from using the route even though it may actually be available. Accordingly, the existing tools artificially limit the available supply to terminate a call even though potential sellers are available.
Because of the above problems, vendors (which may include companies and individuals) face significant challenges in their attempts to avoid revenue loss because they must attempt to manage real time business decisions based on outdated or inaccurate facts due to the dynamic, ever-changing, market conditions.